Sometimes the world of marketing and communications can feel small. This week it got a little smaller. Pam Edstrom, one of the original partners of WE Communications and often credited with being the inventor of tech PR passed away this week. Pam’s contributions to the technology industry and marketing communications are everywhere. At CMD, where […]

Connecting with passion groups can be challenging. They can be incredibly sensitive at just the slightest off tone, but if you get it right they’ll love you forever. This week Delta Airlines got it wrong. Delta and Major League Soccer’s Seattle Sounders came up with a clever idea designed to engaged fans, players and the Seattle community into a single […]

This week I found myself in Charlotte, NC for work. On Tuesday, I received a call from the Front Office of the Portland Timbers offering me a ticket to Sunday’s MLS Cup. A quick look on Google Maps, a call to Delta (sorry Alaska), a check on rental car prices, and now I find myself driving over […]

Facebook announced further restrictions on its data this week. Probably a smart decision for Facebook and a good decision for privacy, but for the apps that rely on this data, this comes as a big blow. Data from third party sources is tasty, but don’t become dependent upon it. More on sharecropping from an old post: https://murphypdx.com/2011/09/09/digital-sharecropping/ […]

As social media grew up, it wanted to be what every other marketing channel is. Early on, there was a desire to prove skeptics wrong and show business value the way other channels showed business value. In that process it lost sight of what it is really good at. There are success stories about social […]

Here’s an exercise for you to try at your next meeting with the creative team: In every planning meeting and brainstorm write down all of the questions that come up regarding things like how the audience will respond, decision points around UX or content, what message is strongest, etc. Keep these in a running list. […]

In the post-social marketing world, marketing operations and marketing technology has boomed. So what’s next? Marketing automation, operations, analytics and aren’t going away. What will be new is how we interact with content. The creative side of marketing is due for some big changes. In two or three years consumers will be experiencing your brand […]